Weekly Wellness: It's About Doing Something

COLUMBIA - Weekly Wellness is a segment airing on KOMU 8 News at noon on Mondays. In addition to the on-air workout, there will be an extra Web edition with additional workouts (see video on left).

Many people want to find the time to exercise, but there are so many reasons why they think they can't. Livestrong.com offers this top ten list of reasons people don't work out:

No time

No energy

Competing interests

No motivation

Too overwhelming

Poor diet

Current physical condition

I'm thin already

No access

Lack of results

All of these reasons are easily fixable with not a lot of "fixing" involved. It's all about baby steps.

I've found that it's when people try to go from nothing to everything too fast that things can fall apart. We aren't sports cars. We aren't supposed to go "zero to sixty" in 2.2 seconds. We want it to stick. We don't want to set ourselves up to fall. We want to succeed. We want to make a long-term lifestyle change. That's when the real change occurs.

Information provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states that obesity rates are continuing to rise across the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 35 percent of American adults are obese, and about 17 percent of children and adolescents are obese.

While many people looking to get fitter are influenced by the superficial reasons (looking good in clothing or fitting into some item in the closet from about 20 pounds ago), my main concerns tend to be the numerous health risks that are linked to obesity.

Some of the most preventable causes of death are directly linked to obesity, including coronary heart disease, type II diabetes, and strokes.

It is recommended by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) that we get 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every week. That's about 30 minutes, five times a week. But this is merely to maintain where we currently are.

For weight loss purposes or to make improvements in our current physical condition, a person may need to exercise as much as 60 minutes per day every day to make a difference.

For those who are overweight or obese, the ACSM recommends getting 250 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity each week. Studies have shown that is this is followed, weight loss can be significant.

But the important take-away here is this: everyone starts somewhere. You just have to start. Five minutes can lead to eight minutes which can lead to ten minutes and so on.

Start with something as simple as marching in place or doing low impact jumping jacks. Easy squats can be done by simply sitting in a chair and then standing up by putting your weight in your heels and being aware of slowly rising to a standing position. Take your time and repeat as many times as feels comfortable to you.

Set a timer or use the commercial breaks of your favorite TV show as your workout time and aim for 2 minutes or 3 minutes. You know that most commercials are :30 or :60 so that is your key and your goal.

Say to yourself, "I'm going to do easy squats during this commercial break," and then do it.

You don't need any fitness equipment. You don't need to belong to a gym. You just need to move that beautiful body of yours.